AVERY MARGARET AIKEN

By the Grace of God I ended up in the middle of West Texas.

After living in a suburb outside of Houston called The Woodlands for 15 years, my family moved to Colorado right after my high school graduation. And I went back to Texas.

In May of 2018, I graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Communications Studies. Three years of doing just about everything I loved, all at once. Every morning started early and every night went late — and it felt like magic.

During my time in school, I worked for Tech's award-winning, student-run publication The Daily Toreador. While working there, I was chosen to be an opinions columnist, then the Opinions Editor, and finally the Managing Editor. That third position was the one which brought with it the most radical growth and experience.

We covered a school shooting live, with our coverage being bumped up to national news outlets. We covered Trump’s first election, memorably redesigning our cover page when we realized Hilary wasn't going to win at about 1 in the morning. We covered school scandals and internal elections and budget decisions. I got to write and edit and manage our team. And I loved it. Every day was better than the day before. And then the day to graduate arrived, one year early.

Immediately after graduating, I moved over to Tech’s law school where I ran our student government, planned networking events, and competed in national mock trial competitions. For those three years, I found myself knee-deep in textbooks, exposés, articles, and legal documents. Constantly, I would think back to my long nights of editing and thank them for preparing me for the endless reading and writing of law school.

My first summer while attending Tech Law was spent in Boston, MA, working with the US Coast Guard’s attorneys. I assisted on projects that defined how the New England coast could be used by fishermen and wind energy companies, helped coordinate the legal aspects of meetings between foreign militaries and our Coast Guard, and oversaw the creation of legal documents for personnel investigations.

The following summer, I relocated to San Antonio, TX, to help represent individuals charged with with capital murder. Fighting against Texans’ affection for the death penalty, I drafted motion after motion in defense of the rights that are constitutionally promised to all Americans regardless of their crimes or convictions. We met with our clients in small town jails, talking to them through screens of plexiglass about their mental histories and life’s traumas. We prepared to tell their stories to juries, knowing the battle would be uphill but that it is the most important battle to fight. If we don’t defend those who need a defense, then what is the point of our criminal justice system, right?

I graduated from law school in May of 2021 and spent the following summer studying for the Colorado Bar Exam which I took on my 24th birthday. In August of 2021, I began working for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Downtown Colorado Springs. Within three months of working there, I had already completed five jury trials, half of them without a second chair, and spent every morning in front of a judge managing thousands of cases — not hyperbole.

I still love to write and to edit and to read. I have been delighted by my office’s inclination to send documents my way for editing or to be drafted. I love seeing a judge respond to the words I write and see how those words become part of a record, outlining the legal journey of a case from beginning to end.

I’ll be getting married in June of 2022 and cannot wait to write words for that moment too. I assume that’s what my life will be — so many moments remembered by the words I get to write for and about them.

Stay tuned to see how it turns out.